Her Greatest Salvation -Olivia Benson

Work

4 months later

Olivia was finally going back to work. She had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, she missed the station and all her detectives but she was going to miss Emma beyond belief.

Since it was her first day back and she had never really been away from Emma before, she was only going in for a few hours just to get caught up.

"Good morning beautiful," Olivia said as she went over to Emma's bassinet where the baby was crying. Emma slept through the night like a champ, almost from day one and that meant in the morning she was always impatient for her food.

Olivia only had an hour to get Emma fed and get the both of them ready. She had spent the last month interviewing babysitters trying to find one that she was comfortable with, that was good enough for her Emma. It took almost 20 interviews but finally, she found a girl that both she and Emma adored. Her name was Lucy, she was a college student whose hours could be flexible.

Finishing with Emma's feeding Olivia quickly burped her and got her settled in her swing. It was a little while later when there was a knock at her door, she looked up at the clock.

15 minutes early she thought as she headed over.

"Hey, Lucy," she greeted, "your early."

"Oh, I know I just thought you would want me here a little early the first day. I'm sorry if that's not the case."

"No, it's perfectly fine. Emma's in her swing in my room."

Olivia showed Lucy where Emma was and watched as Lucy picked her up smiling at her as she did.

"Well, good morning miss Emma" Lucy greeted. Emma squealed and babbled her little nonsense making Olivia smile. Emma was usually a good judge of character, if she didn't like you then neither did Olivia. She remembered how one of the people she had interviewed tried to hold Emma and all the baby did was scream and cry but with Lucy Emma immediately liked her.

"Ok so let me give you a quick tour," Olivia said. She showed Lucy all around the small but comfortable apartment highlighting where all of Emma's stuff was and where emergency items were kept.

"Alright so she just had a bottle so she should be good for a while, she goes down for her nap about 11 and I never pet her take more than a 2-hour nap. Anyway, I'm going to get going."

She took Emma from Lucy giving her a gentle hug and a kiss. "I love you baby girl, momma will be back in a few hours. Don't do anything new or cute while I'm gone." Olivia playfully said.

She handed Emma over and grabbed her bag. She hesitated to go.

"Go on Olivia, she will be fine. We are going to go read so she doesn't notice mommy leaving."

Olivia had not really given that a thought. How Emma would react to her being gone. She didn't have time to think about now as she headed off to work. Walking into the squad room, It was like coming home. Yes, she had been here during her leave but it was normally only for a few minutes at a time and she had the baby with her.

"Welcome back," Carisi said.

"Welcome back baby girl," Fin said.

"Hey your back," Amaro said oblivious to the fact Olivia had walked in.

"Thank you, it's good to be back. For the most part." She sighed and everyone knew what she was trying to say.

"Hey just look at this way" Carisi started. "She will be happy to have you home."

"Yeah, thanks." Olivia went into her office and shut the door. She pulled a picture frame out of her purse and placed it on her desk. It was a picture of Emma from when they went to the park just a week ago. A couple hours into her day, her phone buzzed. She opened the video that was titled having a great day. She smiled as she watched Emma's smiling face as Lucy talked to her.

Tell mommy your fine and having fun! Olivia could hear Lucy's voice. She quickly texted her back.

So glad she likes you! Let me know if she starts to be a handful and I'll come home. I'm almost done anyway -Olivia

She set her phone back down and continue writing. She had been working from home but with Emma, it was hard to get things done. Her daughter would always come first in her life no matter what.  She was leaving the office, wanting to get home to her baby girl. Almost 6 hours away from her was killing her, she had said she was only going to be 3 hours but time got away and Emma was ok with Lucy.

Her phone buzzed from the inside of her coat pocket. Olivia pulled it out and saw she had a video message, but it wasn't from Lucy. The number was a blocked number.

She opened the video and quickly wished she hadn't. The face of a person she hoped to never see again popped up on her screen

William J Lewis.

Olivia's breath caught and she started to panic. She had not heard from him for almost 6 months. She had finally stopped having nightmares and was less jumpy around people. She knew that Emma played a huge role in her recovery.

She listened. Bile rising in her throat as she listened to him talk about how he missed her. How he couldn't wait to see her, how she thought she had seen the last of him and how he was coming after her and Emma.

How did he know about Emma?  she thought. She started crying at that. He could do anything to her, but she would be damned if she was going to allow him to hurt her baby. Her innocent baby.

Olivia rushed home almost stumbling through the door as she rushed to check on Emma.

"Olivia is everything alright?" Lucy asked an almost out of breathing Olivia as the woman ran into the nursery. Olivia didn't say anything. She took a deep breath and grabbed her daughter from Lucy's lap hugging her tightly as she sobbed.

"You're alright" she kept repeating.

"Liv, are you ok?" Lucy asked again.

"I need you to listen to me carefully" Lucy alright.

The young girl nodded her head.

"I need you to make sure all the doors are locked tomorrow. Don't answer any knocks or anything."

"Alright, Olivia."

That night Olivia laid on the couch with Emma asleep on her chest. She would fight till her last breath for her baby.